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Man, this software is slow. 15-20 seconds last night to exit a recording on the C31 and return to the recording list with live TV in the inset window. Five seconds to get a response to trick play commands, and a couple seconds of trick play movement before the progress bar would appear. I bet it took close to 30 seconds when I turned on the C31 last night before it presented live TV to the screen. Sluggish in the menus, too. More than usual, that is.

While my HR34 is properly connected to the internet (I downloaded something last night from HBO On Demand), it apparently isn't presenting itself properly to my home network and thus is not visible in the iPad app. I have also been unable to schedule a recording from the program guide on DirecTV's web site for many days now. I guess a reboot is in order, but this is hardly a satisfying solution.

The performance, behavior, and consistency of the HR34 and C31 is, frankly, quite appalling to me. How is it going to behave when I'm low on space? It's over 80% free right now. Six weeks in, the shine is definitely waning for me, and it is already becoming very frustrating. I've had the white menu shown by texasmoose above, too.

I've just recently gotten my HR34 so I don't know if this issue was present in previous software versions. The ipad app correctly lists the 34 when all are on my home network, however the "Currently Watching" column only displays the channel that the 34 is tuned to when the device is on ( out of standby ). If I turn it off ( or standby, whichever is the correct term ) the "Currently Watching" column just shows updating but never gets the channel. As soon as I turn the 34 on the app then will capture the channel. My other dvr an HR21 which is also on the network in another room always shows the channel it's tuned to whether on or off. The dvr that the 34 replaced, another 21, would also always display the current channel in the app whether on or off.

I've just recently gotten my HR34 so I don't know if this issue was present in previous software versions. The ipad app correctly lists the 34 when all are on my home network, however the "Currently Watching" column only displays the channel that the 34 is tuned to when the device is on ( out of standby ). If I turn it off ( or standby, whichever is the correct term ) the "Currently Watching" column just shows updating but never gets the channel. As soon as I turn the 34 on the app then will capture the channel. My other dvr an HR21 which is also on the network in another room always shows the channel it's tuned to whether on or off. The dvr that the 34 replaced, another 21, would also always display the current channel in the app whether on or off.

With the 34 is this a known or expected behavior?

That is expected behavior. When the HR34 is off, its not necessarily buffering any channels, where as the hr2xs are always buffering the foreground tuner. This is because all five tuners can be used for anything, and is not at all designed to have a tuner stuck doing any one job ever.

I thought it didn't but was afraid I might be wrong in this. Thanks for the correction, TMan.

My installer connected my HR34 to my Ethernet network despite having a wired DECA putting Internet access on the coax network elsewhere in my house. I soon learned here on this forum that you're not to do both, so I disconnected the Ethernet cable. It seems I could have let the HR34 be the DECA bridge, but that is apparently "unsupported," so I left the wired DECA in place in my basement at the splitter.

About six days ago my HR23 and HR24 got new software. Guess what? No infernal TO RECORD THIS VIDEO prompt when I change channels, the highlight doesn't jump off to the left of the screen to cover the CHANNEL INFO when I scroll down through the guide, and no white triangles. Also, my HR23 and 24 continue to properly auto-backspace after FFWD > PLAY. My particular HR34 does not auto-backspace nearly enough to compensate fro my reaction time, Jonathan Quick-like as it is. Please, oh please DTV, make the next software for the HR34 like the latest software for my HR23 and 24. The white triangles I can live with. Thanks!

The Minneapolis snow storm last weekend caked my dish with heavy snow. Had no signal for ~24 hours. Took both my dish heater and several hours of sun to melt it off.

Neither my HR34 or HR24 recovered automatically. Both had to be rebooted.

Of course this is nothing new. How hard could it be for receivers to automatically recover when signal returns????

I haven't had a satellite dish long enough to get snow on it, but your remark raises a question for me: would you have had the problem of needing to reboot your equipment immediately after the accumulated snow was thick enough to mess up the signal even if you could have brushed it off right away, or was it the length of time the signal was lost that made them mad?

The Tim Allen movie "The Santa Clause" was on last night. I believe it was on 311. I set the movie to record and got a message that said something to the effect that the movie was already recorded and was now available via the playlist.

Apparently this was a movie already recorded by the Genie or was preloaded PPV (there is little, if any distinction). The problem is, instead of it recording the free movie on 311, what was moved to the playlist is a PPV costing $3.99.

Genie, or whatever function loaded the $3.99 version instead of recording the free movie needs to be able to differentiate the two and at least give the option as to what the DVR should record and/or move to the playlist.

The Tim Allen movie "The Santa Clause" was on last night. I believe it was on 311. I set the movie to record and got a message that said something to the effect that the movie was already recorded and was now available via the playlist.

Apparently this was a movie already recorded by the Genie or was preloaded PPV (there is little, if any distinction). The problem is, instead of it recording the free movie on 311, what was moved to the playlist is a PPV costing $3.99.

Genie, or whatever function loaded the $3.99 version instead of recording the free movie needs to be able to differentiate the two and at least give the option as to what the DVR should record and/or move to the playlist.

I don't know whether to ROTFLMAO or cry.

Sure enough; go to their web page and search "The Santa Clause". Click on it and it shows "Watch on TV" on channel 311 (ABC FamilyHD). And it says "Other ways to watch: On Demand"... for $3.99.

Hopefully that is acknowledged as a bug and not just another scam to make a buck.

I just do a every time I scroll past the PPVs and see all these ancient (1994 for that one!) things they think someone will pay for.

I haven't had a satellite dish long enough to get snow on it, but your remark raises a question for me: would you have had the problem of needing to reboot your equipment immediately after the accumulated snow was thick enough to mess up the signal even if you could have brushed it off right away, or was it the length of time the signal was lost that made them mad?

No idea.

My OTA (AM21N on HR34) and previous recordings worked on my C31 but were a bit problematic. Periodic freeze problems requiring a channel change or exit to come out of it. Sometimes audio dropped out - returned by pausing/unpausing.

Two sat recordings, Dexter and Homeland, didn't record of course. Don't know if they would have eventually been rescheduled. I added another showing explicitly so as not to miss them.

As a retired software engineer... I would expect this to have been a standard test case all along and a mature product like this should have automatically recovered 100%. The crap they consider good enough these days is just shocking.

The Minneapolis snow storm last weekend caked my dish with heavy snow. Had no signal for ~24 hours. Took both my dish heater and several hours of sun to melt it off.

Neither my HR34 or HR24 recovered automatically. Both had to be rebooted.

Of course this is nothing new. How hard could it be for receivers to automatically recover when signal returns????

It takes longer for the HR24 to become "confused" with no signal than it does for the HR34. We have to set up the dish every time we move our home (full time travelers). If I take too long to get signal, the HR34 reboots itself and I have to wait and wait for it to boot so I can begin to align once more. Sometimes it takes three of four reboots before I can dial in the signal. Truly a pain. And for whatever reason our HR34 does not have a tone which would help. Both of the Genies installed in our kids homes while we were there have a tone on the signal strength bars. Darned if I can get a tone.